Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is riding roughshod over Sen. John Cornyn in the latest polls for the upcoming Senate primary.
Breitbart reported that Paxton, a staunch ally of President Donald Trump, has consistently shown a double-digit lead over the incumbent Cornyn, who’s seeking a fifth term, as the latest survey reveals a staggering 17-point gap in a direct matchup.
“It’s pretty simple,” Paxton told Breitbart News Saturday host Matt Boyle, explaining his edge.
“When you spend 23 years ignoring Texans while taking orders from Mitch McConnell, people take note.” Well, isn’t that a polite way to say Cornyn might have forgotten which state sent him to Washington?
Paxton didn’t mince words about Cornyn’s track record, pointing to the senator’s support for gun restrictions that even drew praise from President Joe Biden.
Trump, on the other hand, branded Cornyn a RINO and urged a challenger to step up. Sounds like Cornyn’s caught between a rock and a hard place with that kind of feedback.
“We’re in Texas, not Vermont,” Paxton quipped to Boyle, emphasizing the state’s conservative roots. He argued that Texans expect a senator like Ted Cruz, who consistently votes with constituents in mind, not one who plays the “go along to get along” game in D.C. Ouch—Paxton’s drawing a line in the sand, and Cornyn’s on the wrong side of it.
Then there’s the border issue, where Paxton accused Cornyn of wobbling on immigration policies despite Texas bearing the brunt of federal mismanagement.
“For Cornyn to waver is remarkable, given how much this impacts our state with costs and crime,” Paxton said. It’s a fair jab—shouldn’t a Texas senator be the first to fight for a secure border?
Paxton also highlighted a failed migration deal pushed by McConnell and Sen. James Lankford during the Biden administration, which Cornyn initially backed alongside Ukraine aid.
The bill, pitched as a border fix, was exposed as a vehicle for massive foreign spending, per Breitbart News, until Trump’s opposition killed it. Turns out, sometimes following the crowd leads straight off a cliff.
Paxton sees Trump as the antidote, praising the president’s swift moves to reverse Biden-era border policies. “Trump has done by far the best job on illegal immigration in my lifetime,” he insisted. High praise, considering the mess Texas has dealt with in recent years.
He also lauded Trump’s legislative package, dubbed a “big beautiful bill,” for slashing spending by $1.6 trillion, funding the border wall, and boosting border security. “It saves money by reducing the social and healthcare costs of unauthorized migration,” Paxton noted. Now that’s a plan even a fiscal hawk could cheer for.
Paxton’s not just echoing Trump on policy—he’s walked a similar path of legal challenges since his first election as attorney general. “They indicted me on three felonies, though I’d never even had a speeding ticket,” he recalled. Talk about a baptism by fire for standing firm.
He survived lawsuits and a Texas House impeachment, facing down a bipartisan establishment eager to replace him with a more moderate figure.
“It was Democrats, Karl Rove, and establishment Republicans wanting me out,” Paxton explained. Seems the old guard doesn’t take kindly to principled outsiders.
Despite the pressure, Paxton persevered, though not without significant cost and effort against well-funded opponents.
If you’re not a billionaire, he noted, you’ve got to get creative to keep fighting. That’s a lesson in grit for anyone watching from the sidelines.
Even with his polling lead, Paxton isn’t resting on his laurels, knowing the establishment won’t surrender Cornyn’s seat easily. “Incumbents have a huge fundraising advantage from Washington sources,” he warned. It’s a reminder that money talks, even in the reddest of states.